Day 35: June 4th, 2010

Shark Tale




Big Name Stars Doesn't Make The Film Any Better.

A mafia film of sorts, set underwater and with fish. Will Smith is Oscar, a fish that lies about killing a shark. The shark was actually killed by a dropped anchor, yet Oscar was at the scene and is now known as the Sharkslayer. Mob Boss Robert DeNiro hears about his son's death and takes matters into his own hands, this doesn't bode well for Oscar.

Shark Tale at first glance seems to be a mere rip off of Finding Nemo. The Pixar film that had fish as their main characters was charming, funny and adventurous. It's not fair to compare the two, since this film lacks all of those ingredients. Shark Tale instead relies on pop-culture references to get the adults smirking and the bright colourful fish to get the kids wanting the toys. The story, the animation and the fun are all below the bar. With every film that is released by Dreamworks, the inevitable will happen. People will compare it to Pixar. Pixar is simply in another league, they seem to care about their stories and characters and not just having a bunch of people cash in on the current craze.

Shark Tale has an impressive cast, if this were a live action dramatic film, starring Will Smith, Angelina Jolie, Robert DeNiro and was directed by Scoresese, then we might have a masterpiece on our hands. Alas, the actors of this world think that just because they lend their voice to an animated character, that their job is half done for them. Jack Black works in this film, even DeNiro, who plays up on his past roles. Jolie, Zellweger and Smith do not. They have nothing to add to the film that some nameless actress/actor could have done.

There is no sense of adventure. We are trapped under the sea instead of exploring the depths of this world. It was interesting to see the fish life here, but I'm sure we've all seen creative takes on modern life in a film that has an odd setting, The Flinstones is famous for this.

I still hear people talking about Finding Nemo today, hell even older animated films like Toy Story, but Shark Tale seemed to have faded the next day after the release. It's not memorable to kids, nor will adults find any real charm or wit. The film tries to hard with a lot of the jokes and references that it becomes tiresome.

Shark Tale fails because it would rather have big name stars on the poster, than a tangible and interesting story. I'm sorry, but at the end of the day, what matters most in a film is the story. Sure, it can be done before, but as long as the story teller and the story telling is good and has my interest, I'm game. Shark Tale did none of this and it felt lazy, much like the cast.

4/10

Day 29: May 29th, 2010

Igor




Igor Should Have Been A Success

...but the film fails to deliver on it's actually interesting premise.

Igor is the sidekick to an evil scientist, we always get the evil scientist story, but never the story of the sidekick. This is where this film comes in. Igor, even though he is a sidekick, wants to be an evil scientist himself. Insert some humour that most kids won't get and some dark material that will scare them away, then you are left with an animated film that seemed to have lost it's target audience. It's also completely obvious they are trying to target the Tim Burton crowd as well, but it feels really third rate in terms of anything in that department.

Igor is voiced by John Cusack, interesting choice. My problems with some animated films these days is that we no longer have voice actors in the lead roles, who are trained in this sort of thing, but any actor who is looking for a paycheck to just sit behind a microphone and speak the words from the script out loud. I found that Cusack is at fault here, despite everyone else in the film actually doing a decent job.

The animation is nothing special. If looked at in comparison to other films, it looks very basic and that it belonged to the year 1998, not 2008. The dark and brooding atmosphere is not brooding enough, and not childish enough. It feels very boring and bland. Almost as if no effort was put into it.

The writing is very bad and the script is below par. For a film that could have been filled with some funny jokes about the cliched parts of this genre, it had none that made me laugh. The supporting characters are good, for adults, but not children. I think some kids might be scared that there is a suicidal bunny....even more scared when they find out it is voiced by Steve Buscemi.

With so many good animated films out there, it's easy to close your eyes and blindly pick one up off the shelf that is better than Igor. It falls in the category of completely forgettable, with films like Valiant, Space Chimps, Fly Me To The Moon and others I can't even remember....because they are that forgettable.

I'm sure there are people who had no intention of seeing this. Consider this review as confirmation to those who were maybe a little interested, that you should just skip it.

4/10

Day 4: May 4th, 2010

How To Train Your Dragon



One Of Dreamworks Better Efforts



Hiccup is a viking, the only problem is he doesn't seem to fit in with everyone else. He's scrawny, scared and can't kill a dragon when given the opportunity. Instead, he makes a unique friendship with the one dragon that people never seem to see. He learns that everything he knew about dragons was wrong and he must stop his father and the other vikings from killing more of them.

How To Train Your Dragon seemed like another animated film that would come and go at the snap of a finger. Yet, it somehow managed to be the best review film of the year (so far) and rake in the cash. Word of mouth spread and along with the critical backing, the film has managed to stay in the top spot for awhile. So I decided to give it a chance. While the film is not as emotionally engaging as other animated films of recent years, it still manages to have fun and entertain.

The voice acting from all was really well done. I had fun spotting who was who and each one gives their character that unique little bit of spice. Jay Baruchel has whiny brat down to a tee, almost to the point of annoyance. With the exception of America Ferrera, I was able to point out every voice actor, yes even the guy from Cloverfield. Her character, Astrid, who isn't in the book, is the love interest of our lead. She is the tough one who is jealous of Hiccup when he starts to get the spotlight for knowing how to handle the dragons. This relationship is never the focus point and seemed rushed, but I can live with it.

The animation at times looks marvelous, the fur the vikings wear looks great. At other time it looks a bit weak, specifically the lead dragon. I don't know if it was the stylistic choice of making him look like a cat, but it looked like the weakest part of the animation to me. Which is funny, because the dragon was the best part of the film. Toothless, as he is called, was funny, cute and kick-ass. The scenes in which he is flying with Hiccup were really well done and added the sense of excitement and adventure the film needed.

It has laughs here and there, but never did I find it overly funny. Instead it plays out the family friendly adventure spin. The story itself is nothing new, young outcast needs to win the hearts of those around him. Finds an unfamiliar friendship and uses it to his advantage. The setting of dragons and vikings was the new angle the film gave us. The relationship between Hiccup and toothless is a nice addition to a spew of films in which the lead character makes friends with an animal.

While How To Train Your Dragon doesn't go leaps and bounds over anything else, it is one of the better films Dreamworks has managed to kick out recently. Both adults and kids will enjoy this film.

8/10